Importance

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Abstract

A print head for use in inkjet printers and the like. The print head includes a plurality of nozzles for delivering droplets of ink onto a print medium and thereby producing dots on the print medium. The print head also includes an imaging sensor for forming an image of the dots in response to a control signal. A controller in the print head reads out the image information to a processor connected to the print head. In one embodiment of the invention, the image is formed and readout in response to the detection of a dot from one of the nozzles by a sensor. In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the nozzles are arranged in a regular array characterized by inter-nozzle spacing and the imaging sensor includes a rectangular two-dimensional array of photodetectors in which the photodetectors are spaced apart from one another by a distance less than the inter-nozzle spacing. Embodiments utilizing bit serial processors for processing the output of the detectors in each row of the two-dimensional array are also described.

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First Claim